OPEN MIKE & Q. C. PATROL

In 1972 I knew him as Mike Harrsion, program director of KPRI-FM, San Diego's "progressive, underground" station (a.k.a. "hippie, album radio.")

Based on mutual, professional respect we became friends.  It's been that way since then. Becoming Michael Harrison, he moved to L.A. and print media  He wrote for RADIO & RECORDS, coining the phrase AOR, meaning Album Oriented Radio.  Later, spotting the coming dominance of talk radio formats, Michael founded TALKERS Magazine.

TALKERS  has become one of the most influential publications in broadcasting; Michael is the go-to guy when TV people need comment on talk radio news stories.  The mag has grown from a one-notch-beyond-Xerox newsletter to a slick monthly read by all in talk radio and everything it influences.  (A while back the cover featured a photo of Michael and Bill Clinton strolling together up the U. S. Capitol steps).

While formulating our audio web site I consulted with Michael.  His is the last voice quoted in our Mission Statement.  About that time TALKERS launched an online audio presence, PODJOCKEY.com.

Yesterday, after months of collaboration, we joined forces.  Flattering, considering the prominent radio biggies we joined at Michael's site as exclusive host for downloadable podcasts of archived show and special documentary productions.

You can click there with the link to the right.  We kick off with: "A History of Hawaiian Radio" that covers more than you might expect (including Michael interviewing me 

with snatches of local Pidgin English and Yiddish tossed in), primo excerpts of live Hawaiian music performed in our "Jungle Studio" plus an in-depth chat with world famous pianist George Winston, the person most responsible for the resurgence of ki ho'alu ("slack key" guitar music).

SAN DIEGO, March 29, 1973 - Brooding broadcasters Muhammad Harrison and Sugar Ray Jacobs flash their moves and hippie hair before bashing each other's brains in at a classic radio bout that thrilled thousands of listeners and scored big in the ratings. Each man agreed, "Now this was a real bar (battle) mitzvah!" 

Now -- 30-plus years since Nixon was KO'd, the Beatles claimed "I'm A Loser" and FM began to conquer AM radio forever -- Harrison and Jacobs are finally working together in the same corner.

Q. C. PATROL: In our interview I told Michael Harrison that super-engineer Greg Ogonowski, VP of Orban Sound, would have his breakthrough all-in-one audio player running on WDG. That has been delayed.

On our session with Hawaiian music Hall of Famer Don McDiarmid, Jr. now steaming on WDG, the original engineer for the HAWAII CALLS radio show in 1935 was Young O. Kang (1990-1996).  He also recorded "The Father of Modern Hawaiian Music" Richard Kauhi and Jesse Kalima and his brothers, "The Half  Ton of Melody" for Bell Records.

There are several typos in blog #1. Those goofs are 100% mine and cannot be blamed on Ken Levine, who has typed 31,476,288 more words than I.  All correctly.

RJ